# 1971–72 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

The 1971–72 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented the University of Illinois.

## Regular season

The 1971-72 Fighting Illini men's basketball season, led by head coach Harv Schmidt, experienced the a tale of two years, 1971 and 1972. The Fighting Illini opened the season December 1, 1971, with a win over Butler and proceeded to win 7 of their next 8 games, finishing 1971 with an 8–1 record. That streak would continue into January 1972 for one more game, the opening game of the Big Ten season. After beating Northwestern the Fighting Illini would go on to drop 9 of their next 14 games, finishing the season with a 14–10 record, tied for 8th place in the conference.
The brightest spot of the season would shine upon junior forward Nick Weatherspoon. Weatherspoon would return from a terrific sophomore campaign where he scored 381 points, averaging 16.5 points per game and collected 246 rebounds. During this season, 1971–72, he would score 500 total points, averaging 20.8 points and pull down 262 rebounds.
The 1971-72 team's starting lineup included Weatherspoon and Nick Conner at the forward spots, Jim Krelle and Garvin Roberson as guards and Bill Morris at center.

### Roster
## Schedule

Source
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-Conference regular season ||||||
| 12/1/1971* no, no | | Butler | W 73-71 | 1 - 0 | Assembly Hall (12,959) Champaign, IL |
| 12/4/1971* no, no | | at No. 20 Oklahoma | W 70-65 | 2 - 0 | McCasland Field House (8,326) Norman, OK |
| 12/7/1971* no, no | | South Dakota | W 96-56 | 3 - 0 | Assembly Hall (12,206) Champaign, IL |
| 12/10/1971* no, no | | at Tulane | W 79-68 | 4 - 0 | Devlin Fieldhouse (3,250) New Orleans, LA |
| 12/11/1971* no, no | | vs. Loyola (New Orleans) | W 94-74 | 5 - 0 | Devlin Fieldhouse (1,345) New Orleans, LA |
| 12/16/1971* no, no | | Georgia | W 84-78 | 6 - 0 | Assembly Hall (12,447) Champaign, IL |
| 12/23/1971* no, no | | at Vanderbilt | L 92-95 | 6 - 1 | Memorial Gymnasium (14,000) Nashville, TN |
| 12/28/1971* no, no | | vs. North Carolina State Gator Bowl Tournament | W 74-72 | 7 - 1 | Jacksonville Coliseum (6,506) Jacksonville, FL |
| 12/29/1971* no, no | | vs. Florida Gator Bowl Tournament | W 76-75 | 8 - 1 | Jacksonville Coliseum (8,248) Jacksonville, FL |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| 1/8/1972 no, no | | at Northwestern Rivalry | W 67-63 | 9 - 1 (1 - 0) | McGaw Memorial Hall (5,885) Evanston, IL |
| 1/11/1972 no, no | No. 16 | Michigan | W 76-75 | 9 - 2 (1 - 1) | Assembly Hall (14,836) Champaign, IL |
| 1/15/1972 no, no | No. 16 | Purdue | L 74-85 | 9 - 3 (1 - 2) | Assembly Hall (16,017) Champaign, IL |
| 1/28/1972* no, no | | vs. Notre Dame | W 81-59 | 10 - 3 | Chicago Stadium (11,255) Chicago, IL |
| 2/5/1972 no, no | | Northwestern Rivalry | W 68-59 | 11 - 3 (2 - 2) | Assembly Hall (13,628) Champaign, IL |
| 2/8/1972 no, no | | at Michigan State | L 79-89 | 11 - 4 (2 - 3) | Jenison Fieldhouse (6,132) East Lansing, MI |
| 2/12/1972 no, no | | at Michigan | L 83-105 | 11 - 5 (2 - 4) | Crisler Center (12,562) Ann Arbor, MI |
| 2/15/1972 no, no | | at Iowa Rivalry | L 84-87 | 11 - 6 (2 - 5) | Iowa Field House (12,559) Iowa City, IA |
| 2/17/1973 no, no | | No. 8 Ohio State | W 64-62 | 12 - 6 (3 - 5) | Assembly Hall (15,236) Champaign, IL |
| 2/22/1972 no, no | | Indiana Rivalry | L 71-90 | 12 - 7 (3 - 6) | Assembly Hall (14,083) Champaign, IL |
| 2/26/1972 no, no | | Wisconsin | W 91-86 | 13 - 7 (4 - 6) | Assembly Hall (14,006) Champaign, IL |
| 2/29/1972 no, no | | at No. 14 Ohio State | L 70-103 | 13 - 8 (4 - 7) | St. John Arena (13,489) Columbus, OH |
| 3/4/1972 no, no | | at Minnesota | L 62-91 | 13 - 9 (4 - 8) | Williams Arena (14,666) Minneapolis, MN |
| 3/7/1972 no, no | | Iowa Rivalry | W 91-84 | 14 - 9 (5 - 8) | Assembly Hall (11,554) Champaign, IL |
| 3/11/1972 no | | at Wisconsin | L 84-97 | 14 - 10 (5 - 9) | Wisconsin Field House (7,242) Madison, WI |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||

## Player stats

| Player | Games Played | Field Goals | Free Throws | Rebounds | Points |
| Nick Weatherspoon | 24 | 200 | 100 | 262 | 500 |
| Bill Morris | 21 | 113 | 93 | 197 | 319 |
| Jim Krelle | 23 | 104 | 70 | 78 | 278 |
| Nick Conner | 24 | 101 | 51 | 204 | 253 |
| Larry Cohen | 21 | 42 | 39 | 28 | 123 |
| Garvin Roberson | 24 | 39 | 42 | 51 | 120 |
| Jed Foster | 19 | 38 | 42 | 67 | 118 |
| C.J. Schroeder | 21 | 23 | 30 | 33 | 76 |
| Jim DeDecker | 19 | 20 | 17 | 33 | 57 |
| Jim Rucks | 8 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 19 |
| Greg Wilson | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 12 |
| Mike Wente | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 |

## Awards and honors

* Nick Weatherspoon
** Team Most Valuable Player

## Team players drafted into the NBA

* No Players Drafted